Sam Farr: “But I think that the history of the 70s, the history of the 80s, the history of the 90s saw incredible change in our…”

“But I think that the history of the 70s, the history of the 80s, the history of the 90s saw incredible change in our country. And this House, during all that period, probably spent more time discussing our national security, our national defense, the Vietnam War, Panama, and the Middle East. We had lots of problems. Probably history will point out that the most talked about person of these eras, two-and-a-half decades, is going to be Ron Dellums, because in the people's House, he was an unusual person. He represented people that had not been represented before in Congress. He spoke about unusual ideas, many of which were unpopular. And they became the position of our Nation. He just said them before anyone else. He provided new leadership. Nobody of African-American descent had ever been chair of the Committee on Armed Services. And the fact he was taking that chair and had the opportunity to be there, he had life threats against him in this building as a Member of Congress.”